Thursday, 19 June 2008

When the state becomes God

At the beginning of Nazi rule, a law was enacted in Germany to make education by the state compulsory - lest anyone should teach their children to question the state's doctrine. That law is still rigorously enforced.

"A mother and father who have been homeschooling their children each have been ordered by a German judge to serve three-month prison terms after a prosecutor said he was unhappy with fines the family paid and he wanted the parents jailed."

Here's just how rigorously:

"Judge Peter Hobbel, who imposed the fines [i.e. those now replaced by prison sentences], also criticized school officials for refusing to answer the family's request for approval of their "private school."

and:

"It is embarrassing the German officials put parents into jail whose children are well educated and where the family is in good order," he wrote in an earlier alert about the situation. "We personally know the Dudeks as such a family."

But for those who want to see the state become God, the existing laws don't go far enough:

"Just weeks ago, WND reported the Dudeks warned about a new German federal law that also gives family courts the authority to take custody of children "as soon as there is a suspicion of child abuse," which is how the nation's courts have defined homeschooling."

When the state tries to replace God, though, it finds that the position is already occupied, and so it needs to take part in competition:

"Wolfgang Drautz, consul general for the Federal Republic of Germany, has commented on the issue on a blog, noting the government "has a legitimate interest in countering the rise of parallel societies that are based on religion.""

In case there was any doubt that statism was an alternative religion, they're happy to spell it out for you in words you'll find easier to understand:

""The minister of education does not share your attitudes toward so-called homeschooling," said a government letter in response. "... You complain about the forced school escort of primary school children by the responsible local police officers. ... In order to avoid this in future, the education authority is in conversation with the affected family in order to look for possibilities to bring the religious convictions of the family into line with the unalterable school attendance requirement.""